Metroid: Reborn
by Descender
Summary: After being shot down, Samus discovers Colony Echo, a Neutral Territory. Prologue and parts of Chapter 1 up. First attempt at a Metroid story, so please R&R.
1. Prologue

Metriod: Reborn- A fanfiction by Descender

Prologue-

WARNING: Suit Energy Low. Scanning for Suit Status now. Please stand by...

Complete. Various malfunctions detected in Gravity Suit Variation 1156-90033427-001A. Listing now. Please stand by...

Physical damage detected to Gravity Suit. Movement reduced to 55 of optimum. Attempting to repair movement servos.

Attempting to reactivate optics.

Failed. Reattempting.

Success. Reactivating Combat Visor. Updating Suit Status indicators.

WARNING: Life Support at 37 of optimum. Redirecting all internal repairs to Life Support.

WARNING: Extensive damage detected to Beam Cannon. Do not recommend further use until repairs can be completed...

Samus struggled to get to her hands and knees until she finally made it back to her feet, slowly reading through the messages her suit kept displaying on her visor, until it finally reactivated her Optics, which filtered out the usual blue tint the visor would create, allowing her to see everything normally again. As the Combat Visor rebooted itself, Samus checked her Suit's energy levels, then sighed. 67 energy remaining on her final energy tank. The orange words "Energy Low" blinked and pulsed slowly as a warning, disappearing and reappearing at a constant beat that was accompanied by a small alarm. Then the last words that her suit had displayed suddenly hit her. "Extensive damage detected to Beam Cannon." She dared a glance at her cannon, before she closed her eyes and sighed. Her Plasma Beam was sparking and in horrible shape. The usual pulsing red energy that looked similar to lava was pitch black as electricity jumped from one damaged place to the next. Smoke rose slowly from holes that had been blasted into her cannon; needless to say, she was hesitant to even think about shooting.

Finally finished evaluating the condition of her suit, and concluding that it wasn't good, she took a look around the place. She remembered that she was on a man-made space colony that had been built to look like an ecosystem instead of a large space station, and that she had followed a group of invading activists who were against the colony into a cave, where she had engaged them. Then, she remembered a bright flash and her ears ringing, then nothing. Whatever had caused that bright flash must have been something, and she really must have hit her head hard if it had caused her suit's computer to reboot itself.

Life support systems fully repaired, her suit displayed on her visor. Movement servos running at optimum efficiency. Scans conclude that beam cannon is not repairable by built-in repair systems, and requires manual maintenance to repair. 'Great,' she thought. 'There's another thing to add to my agenda. I better get some serious pay to cover these repairs...'

A small, blinking light drew Samus' attention, causing her to move towards the source to find out what it was, before bending down to look it over. It was a small, circular device with a very small, blinking blue light. She pressed a button on the side of her helmet, trying to switch to her Scan Visor, causing her HUD to flicker for a moment, fade, then reappear as the Combat Visor again. Confused, Samus tried once more, only to have the same effect. That was the last thing she needed: her Scan Visor to go out. She was left to her own resources, so she brought it closer to her helmet to inspect, until she recognized it immediately: A tracking device that was transmitting to whoever it was transmitting to. Someone knew she was here...

Samus instantly threw the tracking device to the ground, aimed her cannon, then tried to fire, only to have her cannon spark. She shook her head and tried once more, but the Plasma Beam only coughed, sputtered, let out a strange creaking noise, and then caused her entire Beam Cannon to explode, revealing the bare forearm armor Samus rarely saw on her right arm. She clenched and unclenched her fist, examining her forearm, until her view was crowded by another message coming from her Suit.

Catastrophic System Failure detected on the Beam Cannon. Power Beam, Wave Beam, Ice Beam, and Plasma Beam destroyed. Missile Launcher system and Super Missile subsystem destroyed. Combat efficiency reduced to 30. In a nutshell, "your gun doesn't work anymore." Still focused on what she was originally trying to do, Samus stamped on the tracking device, crushing it under her augmented strength, before returning to the problem at hand. She probably had a number of people coming towards her position already, none of which were friendly, she was sure, and she was practically weaponless. She could morph into the Morph Ball and drop a few Power Bombs, and a number of Morph Ball Bombs, but those were so easy to avoid, and required perfect execution to be effective. It was a new feeling to her, not having a weapon, but Samus was sure she could improvise and still be a deadly threat.

The number of orange dots that appeared on her radar suddenly changed her mind. A curtain of orange seemed to crowd the entire bottom section of her radar. The Bounty Hunter spun around in just enough time to hear a human voice shout "there she is!", and see a hail of bullets begin to rain down on her. A few struck into the defensive shield of her Gravity Suit as she dove to the side behind a group of stalagmites that had decided to grow next to each other, providing a makeshift wall. Samus cursed under her breath as she watched her energy reading drop to 45. Before long, her shield would be down and her suit would begin to take direct damage. Still listening to the firing guns behind her, Samus looked around for some kind of weapon she could use, only finding a few rocks nearby. She decided to take her chances. She gripped one of the rocks, jumped up, and threw the rock with all her might. Since the suit augmented her strength greatly, it was quite the bit of might. The rock slammed into the forehead of one of the activists, killing him instantly. Samus ducked again under her cover, a shot narrowly grazing one of her large shoulder pads. Her energy dropped to 44.

"Come out, Samus Aran!" their leader shouted. "You are under arrest for the murder of 13 of our men, and will face the consequences!" 'I was only doing my job,' Samus thought. She grabbed another rock, and popped up once more, killing another before being forced to hide from the hail of bullets. 41 energy left...

"You'll have to come get me, as I've got a fair number of credits riding on the success of this mission!" Samus shouted back. She noted that her external intercom had been damaged as well, but she was still easily understood. Another rock, another throw, another kill. She took a quick count as to how many she was against, and saw another 12 men standing with automatic rifles all pointing at her position. She ducked down again, this time avoiding damage. She reached for another rock, but found nothing. She was once again out of ammunition. 'Fine,' she decided. 'It's time for a little improvisation.' With a mere thought, Samus curled up into the small Morph Ball, about as big across as it was from the floor to her knees while standing, and waited for only a second before dropping a Power Bomb. The energy bomb detonated with tremendous force before causing a dome of explosive power to slowly grow and envelop everything nearby. The blast destroyed Samus' cover, but also killed all but three men who were against her. Before the bomb even disappated, Samus had unrolled herself and dashed right at one of the men, slamming her right hand into his jaw. The force of the blow instantly broke his jaw and knocked him out. She turned and faced the leader to notice he had his gun pointed right at her. She instantly grabbed a hold of the gun and twisted, hearing a sickening crack as every finger in his hand broke with the twist. Now with the gun in her hands, Samus pointed it and fired at the last man, hitting him in the shoulder, allowing him to live. She pushed past the leader and ran outside the cave, before dialing for her ship. Well, she tried, anyway, before noticing that her wrist computer that was normally built into her cannon was missing.

"There she is!" another rebel group shouted. The Hunter had suddenly become the Hunted. Samus hoped and prayed that her Speed Booster still worked, then began running in the opposite direction of the Rebels. She continued to run, watching the rebels slowly fall back, until she felt her suit begin to match Samus' running speed, until it began to move its legs faster than she was, literally forcing her legs to run much faster than she normally did. Before long, she was running at top speed with the soft hum of her Speed Booster resonating in her Suit. Then, not too much long afterward, she caught sight of her ship waiting in the distance. She was home free.

"This is nuts!" the engineer shouted, staring at Samus' Gravity Suit that was being stored in a cryogenic tube-esque container. "I mean, look at your suit! External speaker damaged, Scan Visor fried, actual damage to the suit itself, and your arm cannon destroyed? Do you want to hear the diagnostics?"

"I guess I better, if I have any want to get these repairs done," Samus put simply, folding her arms across her chest. She was sitting in one of the chairs in the room in her black vest and shorts that she relaxed in, her long, blone hair pulled into a tight ponytail.

"Well, let's start with the worst. Ms. Aran, I'm afraid to tell you that the only thing that really works on this suit is the defensive barrier. The Gravitational Field the suit used to generate when underwater doesn't work, your Morph Ball was even damaged during the last fight you were in, your Grapple Beam is in three separate pieces, your Jump Augmenting thrusters and your secondary thrusters for mid-air jumps have been destroyed beyond repair... in a nutshell, your Suit has no purpose but defense and looking pretty, and it can do hardly even that, for that matter."

"What of the heatshield? I upgraded that from a Varia Suit," Samus reminded the doctor.

"I'm afraid that even that doesn't work anymore."

"Then what does!?"

"Nothing," the doctor put pretty simply. "You don't even have your Power Beam. I hesitate to say it, but it's of my professional opinion that this suit is unrepairable. I'd go into looking for a new one, but we haven't even had the chance to build anything like this. Our labs have successfully built a Chozo Power Suit with a Power Beam and Morph Ball, but after that, every time we try to create a suit such as the Varia Suit, Gravity Suit, or even that incredible Phazon Suit you sent data on... they just don't work. This Power Suit, even, is far from perfection and requires more work, but we could probably give it to you. What better mechanic than the person who's been using it for who-knows-how-long?" The engineer slightly chuckled and walked out, leaving Samus to sit and stare at her severely damaged Gravity Suit.

That's the second time I've had my suit destoyed, Samus thought to herself. First on Zebes because of those freaking Space Pirates, and now here, against rebels. She stood up and sighed, before walking out, pausing at the door to take one last look at the equipment that had saved her life time and time again. Those rebels were going to regret this... 


	2. Chapter 1 New Allies, Old Enemies

Chapter 1- Old Enemies, New Allies

Samus Aran sat upright in her bed of her ship, waking forcefully from her nightmare. What was with all these dreams of being defeated? Was she actually afraid that she might face an enemy she can't destroy herself? 

She glanced around her ship and noticed her Gravity Suit still safely and securely stored, and in good condition, the few scorch marks here and there aside. She shook her head, ran a hand through her golden blonde hair, then sighed, before swinging her legs off the bed and standing up.

"Computer, read me my last Log Book Data Entry," Samus commanded, moving into her bathroom to redo her hair.

"Log Book Data Entry- 8th Cycle, 23rd Day, 2075. I have finally completed the mission I set out to do on Tallon IV, ending with the destruction of the Space Pirates' mad experiment, the Metroid Prime. Though my Phazon Suit was overloaded in the process, I was lucky to get out of the crater alive. Unfortunately, the destruction of Prime came at a steep cost: The Chozo Temple built over the crater to keep the Phazon from spreading was destroyed with the crater collapse."

"End," Samus interrupted. She began to stretch, before slipping out of her night clothes and fitting into her light blue jumpsuit and pulling her hair into a ponytail. After feeling getting comfortable in the skin-tight jumpsuit, she walked over to the pilot's chair of her Hunter-class ship and looked over the coordinates again. Galactic Federation Command, Alpha Sector. Another day, another credit. It would be about another 6 hours before she'd reach the Command Station, however, so she had a little bit of time to kill.

A faint alarm began to emit from her command console, drawing her attention, until she noticed the radar blinking. A number of red dots were visible just inside her detection range and in full pursuit. She flipped a number of switches, deactivating the Autopilot and giving her full control of her ship once more, before pulling on the controls. She brought her ship a full 180 degrees to face the pursuing enemies, before she caught eye of the vehicles that were chasing after her. They were Hunter-class ships, as well, but a deep blue color!

"Shoot," Samus whispered to herself. She pushed hard on the throttle, bringing her ship up to full speed, and readied the weapons, before pulling the trigger, causing every turret on her ship to fire towards the three enemy ships. The three ships, however, rolled gracefully out of the line of fire before falling into pursuit again and firing their own weapons, narrowly missing Samus' ship. She let out a frustrated growl before yanking on the controls once more, trying to get her guns on the ships, only to have the other ships keeping up an even pace with her. She couldn't get a lock on any of them! She took a glance at her radar, then made up her mind. She dialed in the autopilot for evasive manuevers, then jumped out of the chair and rushed for her Gravity Suit. She dialed the access codes, then touched the Suit, causing it to fade into an orange wireframe, then fade away entirely. An orange ring raced up her body, creating a wireframe of the entire suit, followed by a bright white ring of energy that caused the suit to materialize on top of her. She grabbed her helmet and locked it into place, the HUD flickering to life, before the orange wireframe ran over her forearm, creating her arm cannon once more. She stepped onto the elevator and was lifted onto the ship's roof, a magnetic device clamping her feet to the metallic top. She spun herself around to face the pursuing ships, then raised her arm cannon. She pulled the trigger in the cannon and held it while thinking about the Charge Beam, causing a tremendous amount of energy to build and collect on the barrel of the cannon as it expanded to accept more energy in. She focused on one of the ships, a targeting reticle locking onto it, then raised her cannon to aim at it. With a press and hold of the second trigger, the energy was absorbed into the cannon, then mixed with a missile before the Super Missle flew off at tremendous speeds, tracking the movements of its target with a tenacity that couldn't be shaken. Samus wanted to follow the missle to watch it hit its target, but a sudden lurch of her ship under her caused her to almost lose her magnetic footing. With a tremendous blast of energy from under her left forearm, her magnetic Grapple Beam fired and latched onto the ship, allowing Samus to pull herself up again and prepare for battle once more.

A single shot changed Samus' mind, however.

A powerful blast slammed into the defensive field of her Gravity Suit, causing her entire Visor to be filled with static as she struggled to keep her feet planted against the impact. She couldn't see past the static, so she hit the helmet of her suit a number of times, trying to clear it up, only to feel another blast slam into her Suit. She heard a number of alarms begin to blare, only able to recognize a few of them together. One was the threat indicator blaring its warning that a threat was become excessive, while another sounded like it was the Energy Low indicator. Samus activated the elevator and sunk into her ship again, waited for the airlock to seal, then ripped her helmet off to be able to see, before glancing down at her Suit. The invisible defensive field around it was flashing red and rippling as it tried to withstand the energy discharge from the weapons blasts, until it finally settle down again. Samus slipped her helmet back on again, the visor clear of static once more, allowing her to look over her condition. She was down to a measly 36 Energy with one energy tank left to spare; apparently the Gravity Suit was not meant to withstand Hunter-class Ship-to-ship weaponry. Samus repsonded to this lack of energy by slamming the barrel of her cannon into an energy slot, allowing her Suit to recharge off the Ship's reactor, until it suddenly shook with a tremendous force, throwing Samus off her feet. She glanced up at the command console and noted a number of places had been damaged, including the Engines.

"Dang it!" Samus hissed through clenthced teeth. "They've got weapons to compare to Meta-Ridley's!" If that was the case, that would easily explain her visor being overloaded: Meta-Ridley's blasts were just a little more than a tickle, and often overloaded certain functions in her visor when she was hit.

Another tremendous blast slammed into the ship, once again throwing Samus off her feet, her suit landing heavily with a tremendous thud. This time, alarms began to blare excessively, informing her that critical parts had been damaged. In this case, the Engines had been knocked off-line.

"Alright, I've had about enough of this." Samus activated her Wave Beam and began to charge it even before she stepped onto the elevator, but little did she know that the next time she was raised up, it would be a devastating mistake.

The elevator door hissed open, allowing Samus up through it once more, but as she reached the roof, she suddenly began to wish she hadn't. There, standing on top of her ship, ripping out its engines, sat a gigantic, mechanically enhanced dragon very similar to the design of Meta-Ridley, but different in a number of ways. But whether those ways were good or bad, Samus had little time to find out, as it had suddenly turned to face her. Samus pointed and let off the electrical ball of energy from the barrel of her cannon, which slammed full force into the monster, but it simply shook off the electric shock as if it were nothing. Samus' heart sank as the monster raised a claw behind its head, then backhanded Samus with incredible force, causing the magnetic grips of her boots to release the ship's metal. The Huntress, however, was not floating helpless in space. With a little bit of body twisting a few blasts of the thrusters on her back, she managed to stop her spinning out of control and redirect her view to the planet she was tumbling towards.

She watched as her ship sailed past her, its engines pouring smoke, with the Meta-Ridley creature following close behind. Samus saw her threat indicator begin to rise in the corner of her eyes, as well, as she began to enter the planet's atmosphere. She curled herself into her Morph Ball form, hoping its sleek and smaller design would help wash some of the heat away while the Heat Shield of her Varia Suit, which the Gravity Suit had originally integrated with, would try its very hardest to absorb and cool most of the heat. The speed of her descent, however, was more than enough to give her vertigo and start tunneling her vision.

She streaked through the atmosphere like a meteor coming for the planet, unable to prevent her falling. The intense heat had eaten clean through most of her defensive shielding, and not much was left to try and protect Samus from the inevitable impact that was fast approaching with the surface of the planet. She noted her lack of luck, too, as she streaked towards a forest. Her suit was still burning with the friction of the air, and she hoped she'd be able to survive this last hit. She braced herself in her Morph Ball...

The metallic ball slammed full force into the tree, causing everything to spark as Samus was forced out of her Morph Ball form. Most of her momentum gone, she fell out of the top of the tree and landed on another branch, causing alarms to go off as her defensive field failed her. She fell just a little farther down, breaking yet another branch (now with alarms screaming at her as the Suit itself began to take damage), until she finally fell completely out of the tree and landed heavily on her stomach on the ground. The weight of the Gravity Suit left an imprint of her position on the ground. She struggle to get up, but as she tried to even lift her head, severe pain shooting through her entire body like a Wave Beam, she simply found she was devoid of energy, and possibly life.

Her energy indicator showed 00 on the final tank. Her visor was entirely cracked, she felt as if she had broken a number of bones, and bright red letters began blinking all over her entire visor.

Life Support Systems: Critical. 

It blinked only a few more times, before finally displaying a single bold word that covered her entire view, as a high pitched hum accompanied it.

Offline.

Samus' vision began to blur and darken as the visor snapped off, while her head slowly sunk to the ground, until she lost all conciousness and slipped into a deep slumber she wasn't sure she could get out of...

All she could see was darkness; a thick, enveloping, devouring darkness that was a thick as blood. It surrounded her, pierced into her heart and soul. It was a darkness she had never felt before; not like the shadows that usually darkened hallways, but like a darkness that wanted to do nothing but absorb her into it. She could feel herself slipping out of her body, being pulled into the darkness; she felt like she was going to die.

Yet, no sooner was she about to give up her soul to this darkness did a bright white light pierce the thick cloud and force Samus back into her own body. She felt the darkness beginning to slip away, but she could also feel unmistakable pain. A dull, throbbing pain in her left arm that was almost irritating. Then, everything went black again.

"It's not in the best of shape, is it," asked a voice. It was obviously masculine, and human at that.

"No, but I can guarentee you that it is most certainly of our make," replied a second, deeper voice. The voice sounded full of wisdom and experience. "I haven't seen a weapon such as this for a long time, but I assure you our warriors used to wear this. Long ago, but they did nonetheless."

Samus' eyes fluttered open, but her vision was instantly blurred by a bright white light that shone right into her eyes. She was forced to close her eyes tightly against the piercing brightness, until she was able to slowly reopen them again. Her vision swam in and out of focus with every blink, until she was able to make out a bluish-green blur from the rest of the white above her. This blur, as it had not yet come into focus, was floating left and right at a leisurely pace, in an almost hypnotic way; a way that seemed oddly familiar to Samus...

She blinked again and was able to make out two small blurs of yellow on the bottom of the teal. Another blink brought it further into focus.

Finally, one last blink showed Samus what was floating in front of her. A Metroid that looked as if it were fused with Phazon, like back on Tallon IV. It was almost identical, with small black balls of energy with a bluish hue coming from its golden claws. It kept moving back and forth, looking right at Samus.

Samus tried to move her arm to raise her cannon, but found it restrained. She looked down to see what might be holding her, and if it could be broken or not, until she noticed her entire body dressed in her skin-tight teal jumpsuit. Where was her Power Suit!?

Suddenly coming to the realization that she was outside her defenses, she had a fear set into her heart. She was perfectly exposed to this Metroid, helpless, defenseless...

As if it suddenly realized that Samus was awake, its movement patterns changed. It began to shake back and forth as the Tallon Metroids used to when they were about to charge, then it bore it claws and let out its strange warcry and lunged forward. It did not, however, attach to Samus' face. It instead turned sharply to the right and latched itself onto the head of a young man in the room. The Metroid did nothing further but let out its small "ker-EE" call as if it had spotted something, and stayed on the man's head. He stood up, in no obvious pain, before asking "what's up, Sucker?" He turned to Samus' bed and found her awake, which drew a smile to his face.

"Ah, good," he said with a sigh. "We were beginning to wonder if you had made it or not. It's good to see you awake." He nodded to her, the Metroid still attached to his head like it were some hat, until the young man told it to release the restraints. The Metroid let out its call in approval and flew over towards a control panel, stared at it for a moment, then pressed one of the buttons with one of its claws. The restraints on Samus' ankles and wrists were released, allowing her to stand again. "Yarin, the young lady is awake." Samus followed the young man's gaze to behind her and found another creature in the room, but this one was more welcome a sight to Samus. There stood a young Chozo reaching the age of adulthood. He turned to face Samus, nodded respectfully, then turned back to his work, which immediately drew Samus' attention. There, in a compartment of the wall, was her Gravity Suit held up with metallic restraints! It had survived entering the atmosphere and impacting with the ground!? More astounding was the fact that SHE was alive!

"Who are you, and where am I?" she immediately demanded, turning back to the young man. She took the brief pause to examine him and found him dressed in a white lab coat with casual clothing underneath. The young man with green eyes and black hair looked no older than 19 years old!

"My name is Doctor Descender," the young man explained. "I am an engineer, and I go by a codename, just like everyone else here, for a reason. You are on planet SL78 on the edge of Galactic Federation and Space Pirate Territory, or the Neutral Zone, as we like to call it. You happen to be in the Med/Repair Bay of Colony Echo, where Human and Chozo live and coincide peacefully together. We watched your ship crash land a fair distance off, near Colony Bravo, then watched you streak through the sky and land here. The Space Pirates that had been following you, along with their stupid Beta-Kran Dragon thing, were chased off by our surface-to-air guns as soon as they came into range. I assure you, Ms. Aran, you are safe and sound down here with us. We welcome you to the colony." Samus was about to ask how this Descender knew her name, until Yarin spoke.

"You are the Samus Aran of Chozo Legend, are you not?" he inquired. "The Samus Aran of Zebes, Slayer of the Metroids, Hunter of the Space Pirates, and destroyer of the Metroid Prime?"

"How in the world did you know all that!?" Samus asked, astounded by this Chozo's vast knowledge.

"Chozo Lore spreads fast among the remaining of the race. You'd be surprised how much I know about you, Ms. Aran." Yarin nodded to her once more, then again continued what he was doing. Samus turned back to Descender, who now had the Metroid hovering next to him. Descender had his hands behind his back as he smiled at her, before he raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"This Power Suit of yours," Descender went on when Samus said nothing. "I will admit that it's not in the best of shape, but because Yarin has seen things similar to this, and this Colony is the most technologically advanced of the other colonies, as that's our purpose here in Colony Echo, we should be able to get it repaired in... I'd give it about 3 days time, actually. In the meantime, we can contact Colony Bravo and tell them to get your ship repaired immediately. Bravo does happen to be the best shipbuilding colony on SL78, so they'll have it ready about the same time your suit is repaired. We don't really want much in return for our services, Ms. Aran, so don't worry yourself with such things. You'll be informed of our request as soon as your Suit is repaired again, but for now, why don't you get yourself some quarters, relax, and walk around the Colony? It might be a little relaxing compared to what you've had to put up with."

Samus just stared at the young engineer for a few moments, contemplating the situation. From what she understood, she had crashed onto the surface, had been taken in by colonists in the Neutral Zone, and her Suit and Ship were damaged beyond use, and wouldn't be available for 3 days. So far, she had heard that Chozo and Humans coincide in the colony, which could give her the chance to speak with some of the Chozo about outside Lore and maybe find the small band that had rescued her. But what about Descender's Metroid?

"I've read Pirate Data Logs that told me that Metroid couldn't be tamed," Samus began. "Explain your little friend..."

"Ah, that's simple. I found this Metroid, Sucker, when he was but a larva. I took him in, looked after him, and raised him on foods other than energy. He sucks the life out of occasional things, such as bugs or plants that I raise for him, but that's expected. Really, Ms. Aran..."

"Samus, please."

"Well, Samus, Sucker really is a Metroid you can trust. If you were to ask me, the Space Pirates have no idea how to train Metroids, because we've done it a lot. Take a walk around the colony today, and you'll see Metroids working all over. We've mastered the art of making them our friends, so I don't know what the Pirates' problems are." Descender chuckled slightly before handing Samus a map of the colony. "The flashing dot is where we are. The bright green dot is your quarters. You can view any of the other things by pressing on the map pad. I'm sure you know how to use these, so I'll leave you alone. And remember, if you ever need anything, Samus, just drop me a line. Ask anyone how to contact the Repair Bay, and they'll show you." He then walked over to Yarin's side and looked over the Suit, before picking up a tool. Samus hesitantly walked out of the room, hearing the doors hiss open behind her, until they hissed closed directly in front of her, leaving her to stare.

My Suit, she thought. I've left my Suit to the care of people I don't even know? This is bad, if you were to ask me...

Her walk around the colony proved otherwise, however. As she casually strolled about the facility, she came to the realization of just how famous she was around the galaxy. An innumerable amount of people would just randomly come up and shout "Ms. Samus Aran! It's good to finally see you in person!" Samus couldn't do much more than smile and wave back. Even at 19 years old, the Bounty Hunter was finding it difficult not to blush every time someone waved and praised her. She didn't even know any of these people, and yet they raised her up as if she were some kind of unsung hero. She had to admit that yes, she was an unsung hero, but she never expected anything more than Credits from the Federation for her work.

After asking around a bit, Samus discovered that most of the Colonists had been refugees and survivors of other Space Pirate raids. They lacked the Creds to get back to any of the bigger colonies, or even back to Earth, so they got a free trip for them and their families by volunteering to go to the Neutral Zone. It was, of course, just as it sounded. The area was Neutral, willing to take in and sustain any living organism that came their way, whether Human or otherwise. Samus ran into a few Pirates who were at Colony Echo, but they had trouble recognizing her. She was outside her Power Suit, after all, which made her nearly unrecognizable to everyone but those who had seen pictures of her. When she hesitantly inquired of the Pirates what they would do if they ran into the Hunter on the Colony, they contemplated, then replied that they'd have to leave "him" alone, as would the Hunter to them, as those were the rules of the Colony. No one was fired upon unless they refused to abide by the Colony expectations, or were seeking to destroy a fleeing/damaged vessel. Samus had to admit that this was a rather amazing place to be; the perfect hideout for Bounty Hunters, Mercenaries, and Pirates alike.

And what Descender had said had been proven true. The Metroids did indeed work on the colony side-by-side with the Humans and Chozo as if they were trained pets. Samus still couldn't get over a haunting feeling of fear of the creatures, however.

Samus soon decided that it was about time to head to her quarters. Though she had received a bit of rest from her unconciousness, she still felt weary from the day's space battle, atop her ship while travelling at top speeds. After locating the quarters, she punched in a four digit code that Descender had provided for her, then stepped inside and pressed the button to close the door behind her. She walked slowly towards the bed that sat on one end of the Hotel Suite-esque room, and found a new set of clothes lying there. A note sat on top of it that read "3 days is a long time in the same old Jumpsuit." It had a smiley face similar to "" drawn on the bottom of it, causing Samus to crack a smile as well. She then looked at the set of clothes she had been given; it was simply a grey cotton turtle neck sweater with a pair of black slacks. Nothing too fancy, but it would be much more comfortable than this skin-tight Jumpsuit she was in at the moment. Under that set, however, was a set of blue silk pajamas for night wear, which was not something Samus had expected. She felt how silky the outfit felt, then decided she'd try them on. She felt exhausted anyway.

A beep sounded in the room, causing Samus to look around for the source, but found nothing that could have made a sound.

"Ms. Aran?" a voice called from a PA system in the room.

"Yes?"

"This is the front desk, we oversee the Living Quarters. Yes, we have someone who would like to speak to you sometime tomorrow morning, if that's alright with you. Say, 1000 hours?"

"Um, sure thing," Samus replied with a shrug. A click resonated through the room, signafying that the PA had shut off, leaving Samus alone once again in the room. Convinced that she wasn't going to receive any more interruptions, she grabbed her silk pajamas and walked into the bathroom to ready for a nice, long shower before she went to bed. It was going to be nice to sleep in something real tonight.

An blaring alarm screamed in every room of Colony Echo, accompanied by bright red flashing lights. Another voice shouted over the PA system, attempting to be heard over the Klaxons, but with very little effect.

"We're running now at Omega Alert!" the voice shouted. "Current time, 0137 hours! Threat assessment: Illegal Space Pirate infiltration and Assault! All personnel are to arm themselves and prepare for battle immediately! This is not a drill; repeat, this is NOT a drill! Prepare for battle immediately!"

The alarms, screaming sirens, flashing lights, and PA system all played a key role in getting Samus to wake up, but it didn't take too much, as Samus always slept light, ready for any kind of combat. She heard the PA attempting to scream orders, and sat upright at the words "Space Pirates." With hardly a pause, Samus jumped out of bed and grabbed her Jumpsuit, pulled it on, then reached for her pistol in its holster on her leg.

Space Pirates, she thought. I thought this place was supposed to be free of assault! Then it suddenly came to her mind why this was happening. The Colony was never really free of Assault, it was just neutral and attacked anyone who attacked them, no one else. Samus took a glance around the hallways, noticing men, women, and children alike running with guns in their hands as if they were trained professionals. That must be the first thing they learn after learning how to walk; how to protect themselves.

"I need to get my Suit back," she muttered to herself. She then began to dash down the hallway at a full sprint towards the Med/Repair Bay, hoping that Descender would still be there...

Running down hallway after hallway was easy enough, as everyone parted for her, plenty aware of where she was running to. No Hunter was really a threat without their weapon, and Samus required hers. She was almost to the Bay when the wall of the hallway she was in was torn open, revealing a group of six Space Pirates bearing down on her. A few colonists brought their weapons to bear and began firing at the noise, until the six Pirates jumped into the room, firing their plasma cannons. Samus took aim and fired three shots at the Pirates, stunning two and annoying the third. The annoyance was all she needed... She quickly took advantage of the situation and jumped head-long into the third Pirate, knocking him flat on his back. Samus sat on top of the Pirate's stomach, before pulling a fist back and slamming it into the Pirate's face twice. She then slammed the butt of her gun into the Pirate's neck, causing it to try and scream in pain, unable to breathe. Samus then felt a firm set of claws wrap around her waist and lift her into the air before flinging her backwards. Samus twisted herself midair, landed on her feet and a hand, before pointing and firing again. The two stunned Pirates that she had stunned before suddenly dropped as the colonists fired direct headshots. She looked past the Pirate in front of her to see the Med/Repair Bay, which hardened her resolve. She lowered her shoulder, then dashed full on into the Pirate. The Pirate, however, did retaliate. He wrapped on of his gigantic claws around her arms this time and slammed her against the wall. Samus' vision erupted into a fury of stars as her head hit the hard wall she was pinned to by the Space Pirate's claw, but her vision soon cleared. Not that she wanted to see the Pirate, anyway. It had leaned in close, a lustful fire in its eyes, as it stretched out its tongue and licked Samus' cheek. This was more contact with a Pirate than she had ever hoped to have, so she kicked her leg out as hard as she possibly could into the Pirate's groin, hoping it would have the same effect on Pirate's as it did Humans. It didn't do nearly as much, but it was enough to cause the Pirate to back off slightly. Finding she was still pinned to the wall, Samus kicked up with her right leg this time, right at the Pirate's elbow, snapping his arm in two.

The Pirate reeled back in pain, screaming a horrid scream that caused a few colonists to cover their ears. The scream had a much different effect on Samus, however. Already enraged at having a Pirate attempt to assault her, the scream awakened every Chozo Battle instinct within her. Her blood began to boil as her heart rate increased and her adrenaline coursed through her being. She could feel things starting to slow down around her as her thought process sped up; she could feel the muscles in her arms and legs begin to tighten as they were augmented in strength; in a single phrase, Samus could feel power coursing through her veins. She braced her arms against the claw of the Pirate, still pinioning her against the wall, at which point it cracked from the immense pressure. Samus fell to her feet, at which point she dashed for the Pirate, its arm bleeding. She leapt full force into the Pirate, tackling him, before snapping its neck with a sickening crack. The Pirate instantly stopped struggling...

Samus felt her anger begin to dull only slightly as her assault was avenged, things finally returning to normal again. This gave the Hunter a chance to notice that more Pirates were coming in from the hole in the ceiling, and the few colonists that had noticed were having a hard time holding them off. She instantly dashed for the Med/Repair Bay and tore through the open door.

The room was devoid of life, but Samus didn't care. She rushed for her Gravity Suit, touched its chest, then watched as the wireframe surrounded her, followed by the entire suit, helmet and all. As soon as the cannon materialized, followed by the HUD activating, Samus looked the diagnostics over. Her Suit had actually survived the crash quite well! The only things that appeared damaged was the Plasma Beam, her Grapple Beam, and her Morph Ball equipment (bombs, Power Bombs, and anything else that was used by the Morph Ball). Energy levels read full, but she did note a warning that said her defensive rating had been dropped. The field must have been weakened by her re-entry. It didn't matter to her, however. The only thing that mattered was that her Suit worked, its augmenting abilities were still there, and her Cannon could fire. She was set to go. She began charging her Power Beam before exiting the room.

The Pirates all had their backs to her, as she had not yet announced her presence. Maybe it was time she did. She turned sideways and stretched her cannon arm out to point at one of the Pirates' heads.

"Hey boys, turn around," Samus shouted. The Space Pirates all stopped and turned to face the source of this new voice, until the Pirate that had the glowing ball of energy in front of his face stopped. Samus shouted "SURPRISE!", then fired the charged blast, vaporizing the Pirate's upper torso and head entirely. Samus could feel a sense of power wash over her as she was reunited with her weapon and the fear in the Pirate's eyes became apparent. A pure, absolute fear of the Hunter.

Samus took the pause to point at another Pirate and fire a Missile at him, blowing him into a thousand pieces and scattering Pirate blood around. The blast also sent three other Pirates sprawling away from the shockwave. The rest of the Pirates suddenly realized that they were in danger, as if their second friend's death sealed the fact that this was NOT their imagination, and began to back up, firing their weapons, only to have two more drop at the hands of the colonists. They were plenty stuck between a rock and a hard place. Another Pirate, however, had a plan. He pulled out a small, blue orb and threw it forcefully to the ground before turning his back to it and cover his ears. Samus looked at the object curiously, until it exploded in a flash of blinding light and deafening sound. Samus watched her visor turn an almost blinding white, the words "Visor Optics Overloaded" typing across her Visor. Even with the Optics turning the Visor brightness down, Samus still had to squint to avoid harming her eyes. On top of the extreme bright, the loud explosion, even as the Suit tried to turn down the volume, caused Samus' ears to explode into a loud, high pitched ringing that drowned everything else out around her. She took a few steps back in her momentary blindness, before switching her visor over to its X-Ray mode, which turne everything black except for the cover the Colonists were hiding behind, and the skeletons of the Colonists and Pirates. She began firing her cannon at one of the two that were standing there, until it slumped to the ground, letting out a grunt of pain that she couldn't hear. A missile from her launcher downed the other.

Sure that her Visor had reset itself, she reactivated the Combat Visor, allowing her to see normally again as the ringing in her ears finally died down, giving her all of her senses back. She looked to a few of the Colonists, however, and saw that they weren't faring quite so well.

The front most one was holding his eyes and screaming in pain as his comrades tried to calm him, but to no avail. He kept writing in pain on the ground, until Samus finally put her hand down on him to pin him down. Samus caused her Cannon to vanish with another flash of a wireframe, allowing her use of her right hand again. She gently, yet forcefully, pulled the hands of the man away from his face, before standing up and backing. His eyes were bleeding profously. Blood was already streaking down his face like a steady stream of tears. His eardrums had burst, as well, causing his ears to bleed.

"John!" one of the other colonists screamed at the top of her lungs. "John, are you alright!?"

"That device burned his eyes and burst his eardrums!" Samus shouted to her, the alarms still blaring over her voice. "He's both deaf and blind right now! I'd suggest getting him over to the Med Bay quick and paging a doctor!" The girl nodded, still managing to keep her cool, before collecting her friend and dragging him back towards the Med/Repair Bay. The third colonist nodded to Samus and ran down the hallway towards another fire fight, firing his weapon the whole way. Samus took the moment to look up into the night sky, watching as Space Pirate Dropships and fighters streaked across the sky, one after another being shot down by the Surface-to-air cannons. The Pirate's numbers were beginning to thin, but every so often one or two of the ships would get through to land in some unknown destination. Samus turned back to the Med Bay to see the girl trying to relax John, which hardened her resolve. She reactivated her Arm Cannon, turned to the fire fight in front of her, and began to charge at them, Cannon blazing every metallic step of the way.


End file.
